My best weekend drive --- Maybe Ever!!!!

[escondidoron]

My son and I just drove 'round and 'round on Saturday (27 June 2009) and again on Sunday (28 June 2009).

Saturday:




It was raining very hard when we drove the outdoor track. I didn't take any pics because I was paranoid about getting the camera wet. Here's the indor track:


The displays here are nicer than at our local karting facilities:


Sunday drive:
Our drive vehicle is a red Italian sport sedan:


We saw some interesting cars during our drive:
A KTM X-Bow. It has the 2.0L turbo Audi engine from the S3:


We saw 3 examples of the new Focus RS:


Getting ready to go:


Safety first!


One good turn deserves another:


Even the taxis here are nice and some even have a lady driver!


And all I got to show for the drive was an autograph on this T-shirt:


We did a total of 2000 km over the weekend. All in all a couple of very memorable Saturday and Sunday drives:

Having a wonderful time.

The only thing that would have made this better would be to have done it in an Esprit!

[Seb]

Lol they actually have Sabine Schmitz (sp?) shirts?

[escondidoron]

they actually have Sabine Schmitz (sp?) shirts?

Naah. No Sabine T-shirts at the 'Ring. I ordered it from Enthusiast Apparrel before we left California. I thought it would be a nice souvenir for my shop if she would autogaph it.

She was very surprised by the shirt. She had never seen it before. She jokingly asked if she should get a cut of the proceeds from the T-shirt sales. She was very gracious.

She's also on TV here occasionally on the German DMAX cable station.

[smokin orange]

Sabine rocks...such a cool chick

[Me!]

Nice pics! I was really excited to see the pictures of that indoor cart track because when we were there we didn't get any pictures to turn out. It was just too dark! But it was great fun!

[gmendoza]

Wow Ron, that's awesome!! How did the Alfa drive?

[escondidoron]

Thanks Gonzo.

Gonzo asked:

How did the Alfa drive?

It handles and drives pretty well. Its been lowered ~2" and all of the rubber bushings replaced with either urethane or spherical joints. It's also got Koni adjustable coil over shocks all around (well, just the shocks in front because it has torsion bars on the front). We have installed a big sway bar in front and a track bar setup in the rear. We have a cage for it but we removed it because we have been driving it around on the street and we don't have the proper TUV papers for the cage. That could be problematic if we ever got stopped by the polezei. It also has some big brakes. the engine is stock except for a new mass flow sensor and ECU (a custom made FADEC). It doesn't have a lot of power and will only pull about 160kph on the long uphill section at the very north end of the track. It can get up to about 200kph on the flat if you have some room. It's also got some Yokohama semi-slicks on Campi rims (from a Lancia Delta Integrale) for wheels and tires. We take those off for street driving.

We're planning on stopping by Zolder for another open track day with it on Wednesday before we head back home.

Regards,
Ron

[Randy Chase]

Awesome!

[Slipstreamer]

Brings back memories of the Schumacher Kartcenter in Aachen, and the 'Ring when my late wife and I used to travel constantly to Deutschland.